Defense counsel for Gitmo detainee
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David Hicks has been detained for two years without charge so far.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Defense Department has assigned a military defense counsel for Australian detainee David Hicks at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base although charges him have not yet been laid and no trial date has been set.
The Pentagon said in a statement that Hicks will soon meet with his lawyer, U.S. Marine Corps Major Michael Mori of the Detailed Defense Counsel, when Mori travels to Guantanamo.
Under a deal struck with the Australian government last month, Hicks will not face the death penalty and will be allowed to serve in Australia any sentence he may receive from a U.S. military tribunal.
Canberra had come under fire from human rights groups who claim the government has not been doing enough to assist Hicks and another Australian suspect being held at the base, Mamdouh Habib.
But the appointment of a counsel is a sign of progress in Hicks' case.
Mori will inform Hicks of his choices to "retain a civilian defense counsel and an appropriately cleared Australian attorney consultant," the statement said.
U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz -- who has the final say on which suspects, if any, will face trial -- has not yet approved charges in the case.
Hicks has been in detention for more than two years after being captured by the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan while allegedly fighting for the Taliban.
The Adelaide-born man is also alleged to be a member of al Qaeda and is one of six detainees at Guantanamo who have been designated for a military trial.
Australian-based lawyers engaged on Hick's behalf deny these allegations.
Lawyer Stephen Kenny told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Thursday that he hoped to meet with Hicks before Christmas to talk to his client about a possible plea bargain.
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Hick's father Terry has been campaigning for a fair go for his son.
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He also said had just learnt that his client and the others facing military trial were moved into solitary confinement four months ago.
"Clearly what they don't want is these people going back to the general prison population and saying, 'hey there's a whole world out there that's concerned about the standard of justice you guys are getting here and the treatment'," he told the ABC.
Richard Bourke, another Australian lawyer working on Hicks' case in the United States, said Wednesday he hoped Hicks' defense would be given enough time to prepare for a tribunal.
"In my view, lawyers involved in tribunal hearings are little better than window dressing for what are show trials," Bourke said, according to The Associated Press.
The other Australian detainee and alleged al Qaeda member is Egyptian-born Mamdouh Habib.
He will also be allowed to serve any sentence he may receive from a U.S. military tribunal in Australia if it is conclusively determined that he is an Australian citizen, a senior administration official told CNN last week.
The Hicks announcement comes a day after the Pentagon announced an about-face in the case of a Louisiana-born terrorism suspect being held in the United States as an "enemy combatant," The Associated Press reports.
The U.S. Defense Department agreed to let Yaser Esam Hamdi meet with a lawyer, a reversal from its previous position.
-- CNN State Department Producer Elise Labott and Senior Editor Grant Holloway in Sydney contributed to this report
